I think you see it as loneliness because you simply don't understand Hubski the way I do. By your way of thinking, if I wanted people to see this post, I would click on it to "share" it. However, by my way of thinking, I would click on this post if I wanted people to see it coming from me. In other words, it isn't about visibility - it's about endorsement. If there were no other way for people to see this post, I would agree with you. But as of this writing, the following people can see your post: - those following #askhubski - those following you - those clicking on "posts with 5 shares" - those who follow me who click on "chatter" - those who follow BrainBurner who click on "chatter" - those who follow geneusutwerk who click on "chatter" - those who follow b_b who click on "chatter" - those who follow AnSionnachRua who click on "chatter" - those who follow flagamuffin who click on "chatter" ... so as far as I'm concerned, it's getting out to plenty of people without me tacitly notifying 618 people "hey, I commented on this, therefore it's going in your feed. Suck it." I share without commenting regularly, and I comment without sharing regularly. I do not see the two as complimentary, but as perpendicular. My primary appreciation for Hubski is related to the dimensionality of its approach to sharing. Users come and go, culture thrives and dies, but the fundamental underpinnings of this site are, from a theoretical standpoint, robust and extensible. That counts for a lot as far as I'm concerned.
Preach it, brother. This is definitely how the site should work if it's working correctly. We've discussed adding some feature that allows users to have some limited metrics on their posts (if they desire). I think that sometimes a post doesn't get shared, and the OP is left to wonder whether if it was unseen, or if the group just didn't find it share worthy. My feeling is that it was probably seen, and probably seen by a lot more people than most would guess. What many people may not realize is that active users << total users. Hubski might get 50 new submissions in a day, but have 1000 visitors. Obviously those people are looking at something. The question is whether it would be interesting for users to have some idea about how many people are viewing their submissions.I do not see the two as complimentary, but as perpendicular.
We've discussed adding some feature that allows users to have some limited metrics on their posts
There are many more views than shares or comments (maybe 200:1). I know this from blogger stats. Probably theadvancedapes and StJohn know this as well and can see how many of their blog visits come from hubski. The question is whether it would be interesting for users to have some idea about how many people are viewing their submissions.
That is a question.